Four Russian soldiers killed in Syria IED blast

Four Russian military personnel were killed and two injured when their vehicle was targeted with explosives in central Syria last week, a defence ministry statement quoted by Russian agencies said Monday.

"Four Russian servicemen died when their car exploded on a radio-controlled IED on February 16, 2017, in Syria," the statement said. "Two more were injured. Russian military medics are trying to save their lives."

"The convoy of Syrian army cars, in which the vehicle with Russian military advisers was travelling, was en route from the Tiyas airfield area toward the city of Homs," it said.

"After they travelled four kilometres, a radio-controlled explosive was activated under the car with Russian servicemen."

The four deaths raise the number of Russian military officially reported killed in Syria to 26 since it started its campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad on September 30, 2015. Another soldier allegedly committed suicide.

The Syrian conflict began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fueled by mass defections from the Syrian army.

According to independent monitors, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria.

The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.